Let’s see, things to note.

Bill Stull was named the starter at QB by Coach Wannstedt, to no one’s surprise.

“It’s pretty obvious Billy Stull is the starter at quarterback. He’s performed the best. Right now, he’s the most confident of what we’re doing. He has the most confidence of this football team. He’s has the most confidence of the coaches right now.”

As for who will be on the O-line and what that depth chart will look like, well, we’ll see.

Wannstedt’s words that Craig Bokor could move into the second team by switching to the offensive line proved prophetic, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The knee injury to freshman left guard Chris Jacobson will require surgery, although Wannstedt didn’t rule out a return this season. Jacobson, a U.S. Army All-American from Keystone Oaks High School, was Pitt’s top offensive line recruit and was running with the second-team line.

Bokor has taken Jacobson’s spot, which further diminishes the depth on an offensive line that lost freshman tackle Dan Matha to shoulder surgery. The Panthers also have been without the services of redshirt sophomore guard John Brown, redshirt freshman guard Jared Martin and Purdue transfer Jason Kacinko, as well as fifth-year senior tackle Mike McGlynn, who could return sometime soon.

And just to keep everyone nervous, Jeff Otah and Jason Pinkston were held out of scrimmage today with (hopefully) minor dings.

New secondary coach Chris Ball likes what he is seeing from the starting cornerback positions.

“I call it swagger, some say that kind of confidence in yourself is cocky,” Ball said. “But it isn’t about being rude or disrespectful or not giving your opponents respect — the bottom line is to play that position, where you are out on an island and usually with the responsibility of covering a great athlete, you better be confident in your own ability and you better be mentally tough because you won’t survive if you aren’t.

“Both Aaron and Kennard have that swagger.”

Tight End Darrell Strong, on the other hand seems to have a bit more humility these days.

Wannstedt admits Strong was on thin ice, but he gave the Plantation, Fla., native another chance. Strong took advantage of his reprieve and is one of the reasons Pitt has as much quality depth at tight end as nearly any team in the nation, along with Byham and redshirt sophomore John Pelusi.

“If I thought Darrell was a bad guy, Darrell Strong would not be on this team,” Wannstedt said. “But Darrell is not a criminal. Darrell has done some immature things that he regrets, some foolish things. He’s not a bad person. He’s a good person. I like Darrell, and that’s why I’ve stuck with him. I think he realizes that, too.”

This is Strong’s last season. He definitely has a chance to go to the NFL, but he has to be on the field to get noticed. That means staying on Coach Wannstedt and OC Cavanaugh’s good side and show that he will do all the blocking and all the work required in the offense.

There’s just been no news on Eloy Vargas, other than the fact that his profile keeps rising and the offers keep coming. So there’s nothing but speculation. Speculation that makes Pitt fans nervous.

Though buzz among AAU coaches is that Plantation American Heritage 6-10 power forward Eloy Vargas — the nation’s 23rd-ranked prospect by rivals.com — might end up at Louisville, his travel team coach said he’s strongly considering UM, along with UF, FSU, Louisville and Pittsburgh.

Keep in mind that  this is the dead period of recruiting so it’s not like Antigua or Dixon can be in touch with him. The other nerve inducing thing. He is close with his AAU teammate Kenny Boynton, Jr. Boynton just transferred to Vargas’ school.

Boynton is a top-ten 2009 recruiting prospect. While he has an offer from Pitt  — and just about everyone else including Louisville — he doesn’t appear to have much interest in Pitt.

“Pittsburgh Live” and now “Post-Gazette NOW.” Oy.

At least the Trib, finally figured out that no one cared or particularly like the whole “Live” thing. They’ve stuck with the URL, but “LIVE” longer appears anywhere on the site or in the web banner.

The whole “NOW” thing is just as stupid and should be dropped. It’s one of those moronic things where the marketing department sat around looking at the redesign thinking about how they can stress the newness and updates. One of them looks up from his box lunch at the conference table and says, “NOW!”

The new design isn’t bad. It’s clean, easy enough to read and the navigation seems simple enough. A little generic, but I’ll take generic and easy to use over visually stimulating and confusing. It is loading quite slow, however, and maybe that’s just an early glitch.